Black Dads Complain They Get A Bad Rap In New Poll

In a new survey conducted and released by TheRoot.com, Black fathers overwhelmingly responded that they are viewed in a “negative manner” in society.

Close to 80 percent of Black men believe they get a bad rap.

Sixty-four percent blame the media — TV, film, newspapers and magazines — primarily for the ways in which black men are perceived, with another 21 percent placing responsibility with black men themselves.

Here’s an excerpt from the piece:

Those African Americans who primarily blame black men are perhaps being too hard on themselves, said Fredrick C. Harris, director of Columbia University’s Institute for Research in African-American Studies. “There’s too much focus or overemphasis, when we think about fathers, on individual failings than on institutional failings,” Harris said Thursday. “Even though there is a tendency to blame ourselves, blame black people, there’s something happening in the broader society.” Harris pointed to the struggling economy and failures within the public school and criminal justice systems.